Russia offers India its modern T-14 Armata tank technology for Indian Army

New Delhi, Feb 15: With India and Russia continuing their strategic partnership in defence sector, the latter said that Moscow can share its advanced Armata modular tracked platform with India.

 

This came after Vladimir Drozhzhov, the deputy director of The Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) told that Moscow is keen on jointly developing India’s main battle tank with modern Russian technology for the joint development of the Indian Army’s future MBT.

 

When asked if India welcomed the Russian offer to build a main combat tank based on the Armata jointly, Drozhzhov responded, "The Russian side plans to take part in the joint development of the Indian MBT using modern Russian technologies in the field of tank building."

 

This comes as India has sped up the acquisition of modern Main Battle Tanks to counter the dual threat on its western and northern frontiers. In June 2021, the Army issued a Request for Information (RFI) to acquire 1,700 Future Ready Combat Vehicles (FRCVs) in phased-manner through the strategic partnership approach, with the introduction of the “future tank” projected to be completed by 2030.

 

It stated that in addition to the 1,770 FRCVs, other maintenance and training requirements, performance-based logistics, and technology would also be purchased. According to the Army, the superior modern tank platform should have specialized technologies like artificial intelligence and be able to function in network-centric and electronic warfare environments.

 

Russian officials are confident that their Armata Universal Combat Platform can fulfill these demands and give the Indian Army a potent deterrent against its adversarial forces. Besides that, Russia is keen to attract clients to help defray the cost of the tanks. Additionally, Moscow is probably attempting to revitalize its defense industry, which is currently under pressure from US-led sanctions.